A group of space criminals must work together to stop the fanatical villain Ronan the Accuser from destroying the galaxy.

After stealing a mysterious orb in the far reaches of outer space, Peter Quill from Earth, is now the main target of a manhunt led by the villain known as Ronan the Accuser. To help fight Ronan and his team and save the galaxy from his power, Quill creates a team of space heroes known as the Guardians of the Galaxy to save the world.

Movie Parental Guide

nudity

In the beginning, an alien girl is briefly shown in a t-shirt and panties sitting in Peter's ship. Even though it is implied the two had a one-night stand, the scene isn't shot in a sexualized manner.
Peter stares at Gamora butt as she climbs the stairs and says that if he had a black light the ship would look "like a Jackson Pollock painting", referring to semen.
A man talks about sleeping with a woman to get information.
Other mild references to sex include a scene where it is implied that a woman should seduce men in order to distract them, and a very vague reference to prison rape that will most definitely fly over kids' heads.
Peter is seen shirtless in one scene with his underwear

violence

Fight scenes throughout (hand to hand, laser gun shoot outs and spaceship battles)
A man is tied against a pole. A man goes up to him with a hammer and offscreen we hear a loud bang. Blood (more purple than red) runs down the chair after.
A guard uses a cattle prod to shock a man more than once, even after he is lying helpless on the ground.
A tree creature stabs several men and uses them to slam other men to the ground
A prison guard is stabbed through the chest in the background. No blood is shown
A man snaps an alien's neck using a concussive blast of air.
A pirate uses a remote-control electronic dart to threaten people and to kill two dozen soldiers, leaving scorch marks on their chests as they fall dead.
Two women fight with swords. One pushes the other off the ship and we see her bloodlessly cut her mechanical hand off to escape.
An orb slowly disintegrates anyone that touches it. This happens about 3 times throughout the film (no blood is shown, but skin can be seen burning away).

profanity

This film has frequent language, including a humorously censored F-word, some S words and a few uses of each: Damn, Hell, Ass, Prick, Dick, bitch, bastard, asshole with some religious exclamations.
There is a scene where Peter mocks the bodyguard by pointing a middle finger to them.

alcohol

tells Rocket that he's drunk when he's trying to shoot Drax for calling him "vermin"
Drax the Destroyer drunkly proclaims "Lets put more of this liquid in our bodies!"

frightening

The film as a whole is bright and colorful with an upbeat tone, but there are some moments that may scare younger children and make people emotional.
The first scene is emotionally intense, as it deals with Peter's mother dying of cancer in the hospital. She is obviously very sick, and seeing both that and a young child lose his mother might be distressing to some, especially those who went through similar situations.
Apart from Peter, most of the other main characters also have very tragic and emotional backstories. Gamora lost her entire family and was held captive and tortured. The scene where she tells this is quite sad; Rocket was the result of experiments on animals, and has an emotional drunken monologue about this; Drax lost his wife and daughter and mentions this several times throughout the movie.
A woman who was previously shot is shown with a slightly contorted body and face, which slowly heals itself. The woman snaps her joints and bones back into place. No blood is shown, and the scene is brief but it may be seen as mildly disturbing to some.
A main character dies in an explosion. It is very emotional.
Although the ending is happy and upbeat, Star-Lord's emotion after opening his mother's last gift may cause some tears.